This invention relates to aircrew ejection in general and more particularly to inflatable devices located in the air crewmember""s flight vest for securing the air crewmember safely during ejection.
Of major concern when a fighter aircraft is disabled in the air, is ejecting the crewmembers safely. In fighter aircraft, the air crewmembers initiate the process of ejection by pulling on an ejection handle, squeezing an ejection handle or some similar device to initiate ejection. The canopy that encloses the air crewmembers inside the aircraft cockpit is first blown or cut away. Next, the seat ejects out of the aircraft by a ballistic catapult along guide rails and the seat and air crewmember sitting thereon begins to enter the windblast. After the seat separates from the guide rails, it is propelled clear of the aircraft by rocket motors. When the seat reaches a safe trajectory, a parachute deploys for returning the air crewmember to the earth. The seat is stripped from the aircrew member and falls back to earth.
The proper positioning of the air crewmember in his seat is necessary for a safe ejection from the aircraft. Such a positioning is requires that the air crewmember is correctly aligned in his seat and that his arms and legs are safety stowed. Many factors affect positioning such as the attitude of the plane, is it flying straight, level and upright or is it in some other position?
A system identified as Inflatable Body and Head Restraint System, xe2x80x9cIBAHRSxe2x80x9d has been proposed which provides a pair of inflatables inside the vertical harness that extends from the five point rotary buckle to each shoulder. IBAHRS is a passive system that automatically tightens the harness at the onset of the crash. The inflatable pretensions the straps and forces the occupant back against the seat. This action lessens the chances of the air crewmember from striking cockpit objects during the emergency.
On every air crewmember, be they in a fixed wing or a rotary wing aircraft, each air crewmember wears a flight vest that is customarily sized to fit the air crewmember. Thus, a 5-percentile air crewmember does not wear a flight vest for a 95-percentile air crewmember. When working with inflatables, this requires some customizing of the flight vests without reaching the detail as required by astronauts.
It is a principal advantage of the present invention to position an air crewmember in his ejection seat before the time the seat starts moving out of the aircraft.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention to ensure that an air crewmember is securely position during ejection to avoid or reduce injury to the air crewmember.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention to provide inflatables in a flight vest that are inflated in concert with the start of the ejection sequence to position the air crewmember in the ejection seat maintaining the proper center of gravity of the seat.
It is still another advantage of the present invention to provide spine and body stiffening to the air crewmember by inflatables stowed in the flight vest.
These and other advantages are found in the following drawings and detailed description of an inflatable restraint system for flight vests to be worn by an air crewmember. The restraint system has a flight vest. Connected adjacent to the neck opening of the flight vest is a tubular inflatable initially folded to encircle the neck opening and to lie flat. The inflatable has at least one inlet adapted to receive inflation fluid. A frangible cover covers the folded inflatable, is adapted to be connected to the flight vest, and operates to rupture when the inflation fluid inflates the inflatable. A source of inflation fluid is connected in fluid communication with the inlet. An ejection system that is activated by an air crewmember generates an ejection signal that is supplied to a control unit. The control unit is electrically connected to the source of inflation fluid and responds to the ejection signal to initiate flow of the inflation fluid to the inlet.